What Might Have Been
by Remus Dumbledore
Summary: A glimpse at an alternate universe and what might have been if someone accepted an invitation to a nice family dinner.


What Might Have Been Chapter One  
  
Remus Lupin walked up the street of Godric's Hollow as he approached James and Lily's house on October 31, 1981. They were celebrating Halloween tonight, Harry's favorite holiday of the year. Unfortunately, neither Sirius Black nor Peter Pettigrew could make the celebration tonight – Sirius was away that week on Dumbledore's orders while working for the Order of the Phoenix, and Peter, well, they all assumed he was just quiet kept and wanted to be on his own being that he hadn't responded to their invitation.  
  
Remus easily found their house and rang the doorbell. Inside, he could hear James' call to Lily that Remus must be here, and their one year old son, Harry, shouting joyously as the door unlocked. Remus realized that they had resulted in using no magic whatsoever so not to be detected by the Dark Lord.  
  
"Remus!" James shouted in welcome, hugging him in one arm while holding Harry up onto his shoulder with the other.  
  
"Ma'der! Ma'der!" Harry exclaimed in glee, pointing one of his tiny fingers towards Remus, recalling all the stories Sirius, James, and Remus had told Harry about them and their adventures as the Marauders at Hogwarts.  
  
"Oh, hello Remus, how are you feeling?" Lily appeared in the foyer from the kitchen wearing a pink apron.  
  
"Hey Lily!" Remus pulled her into a tight hug before settling down in the living room with James, Lily, and Harry.  
  
Remus settled down on the floor, pulling Harry into his lap while James brought out a large pumpkin from the hallway.  
  
"Alright, Harry, what should Daddy carve?"  
  
"Hmmmmmm...." Harry turned his attention away from Remus to the huge pumpkin.  
  
"James, we can carve it after dinner, Remus, would you bring Harry into the dining room?" Lily beckoned from the kitchen.  
  
Remus and James rose and walked into the dining room, Remus carrying baby Harry and situating him down into his highchair. Lily brought in an assortment of foods which reminded both Remus and James of the Halloween feasts at Hogwarts.  
  
"All we need now are the live bats and transparent ceiling!" Remus laughed, and James grinned.  
  
"Well that's no problem!" James lifted out his wand and pointed towards the ceiling. A short 'BANG' resounded as the ceiling reflected the night sky, and several bats swooped down from nowhere and began to fly across the ceiling.  
  
"James!" Lily reprimanded, "Albus warned us not to use magic!"  
  
And almost on cue, the doorbell rang. James froze, Lily shrieked, and Remus jumped. Harry fell silent at this strange behavior.  
  
"James...you don't think it could be...him?" Remus gulped, drawing his wand.  
  
"I ...don't...know..." James sounded worried as he forced out words. He rose from his chair, along with Remus, and pointed his wand towards the door.  
  
However, what James and Remus found at the door was not any Halloween treat.  
  
"Lily!" James called out to her from the foyer, "Take Harry and run!"  
  
Lily grabbed her son and rushed out through the French doors of the dining room into the foyer and up the stairs, throwing a glance down towards James and Remus. The front door blew open and off, revealing the cloaked figure of none other than Lord Voldemort himself.  
  
"James!" She shrieked in terror, but it wasn't James that needed the help. Voldemort advanced on Remus, his wand outstretched.  
  
"Crucio!" Voldemort eerily spat. Before Remus could move, he was flung from the ground to the staircase writhing in agonizing pain. Lily ran down to him shouting.  
  
"No! No! Remus!"  
  
Voldemort's shrill cackle pierced the air as she raised her wand.  
  
"Finite incantatem!"  
  
Remus stopped twitching and the pain subsided.  
  
"Lily! GO!" James yelled at her, facing the Dark Lord once again.  
  
Though Lily didn't move an inch, she stood on the staircase, he wand ready to strike.  
  
Remus rose and charged at Voldemort shouting a slew of curses at him, though none aided him in any way. Voldemort raised his wand in one swift movement and shot out three silver balls towards Remus.  
  
Remus tried to avoid to silver though was unsuccessful, two of the pieces of silver slammed into his shoulders, cutting deeply into him. The silver caused terrible wounds to a werewolf and didn't heal easily at all. Remus fell down on the ground to the feet of Voldemort.  
  
"Foolish boy!" Voldemort shrieked, turning his wand on James.  
  
"Out of the way, Potter, or you die –"  
  
"Vermillious!" Remus called out, mustering all his strength. Voldemort was thrown out from the house and across the street from the blast that erupted from Remus' wand. He collapsed back to the ground, Lily rushed up to Remus while James held him up.  
  
"Remus, you're...you're hurt badly!" Lily cried, tears streaming down her face.  
  
James stood guard at the door while Lily attempted to heal Remus of his wounds, but she was shortly afterwards interrupted.  
  
James was flung back against the wall with the Cruciatius Curse, screaming in pain.  
  
Lily and Remus jumped to their feet, Lily ending the curse while Remus faced the door, Voldemort had appeared their once again.  
  
"So we want to play then? I see that this won't be easy then..."  
  
Remus gripped his wand tightly as Voldemort approached. The Dark Lord was only mere inches away from Remus – he could hear his breathing and feel the cold breath flow down upon him.  
  
"Then our favorite werewolf must die!" Voldemort cackled in a high pitched laughter, raising his wand.  
  
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" He bellowed. A jet of bright green light slammed into Remus' chest, just over his heart. He became rigid and stiff, screaming at the realization of what had happened. And then, he crumpled over to the floor – dead.  
  
"Remus!" Both Lily and James cried in unison, running up towards their beloved friend who now lay cold and lifeless upon the floor.  
  
Without even realizing it, they had both dropped their wands as they mourned over Remus.  
  
"Mummy! Daddy?" Harry cooed as he crawled down the steps towards them.  
  
"Harry, NO!" Lily cried, running towards her son to protect him.  
  
Voldemort moved swiftly towards James and spoke in his cold voice.  
  
"So, only two marauders left, James – soon to be only one..." He laughed, telling them of how Peter had betrayed them and recounted Remus' death in glee.  
  
Voldemort flung another killer curse, this time at James. The jet of green light slammed into his heart as Lily gasped and screamed in horrow. She ran across the room to catch her husband, assuming that he would crumple down onto the ground dead – but something miraculous happened...the green light flashed off of James' chest and slammed into Voldemort, destroying him...  
  
Lily's soft tears fell down upon her husband as he lay on the floor, next to one of his best friends, Remus Lupin. The Dark Lord was destroyed, but so was Remus and –  
  
"James!" Lily shouted in a mixture of joy and surprise.  
  
James Potter blinked and looked up at his wife, in terrible pain and agony, though still alive. He had lived Voldemort's attack and vanquished the Dark Lord, but Remus had died in the process. Lily hugged him tightly and kissed him passionately assuaging all her fears that she would never see him again. She never wanted to let go.  
  
James, Lily, and Harry had survived the fateful attack. Remus' sacrifice was praised amongst the wizarding world for years to come, and James was recognized as a hero who destroyed the Dark Lord and had escaped with only a thin scar shaped like a bolt of lightning... 


End file.
